Fire engulfs vacant house on Fort Worth Avenue

Police respond to noise complaint, get dance routine instead

T.D. Jakes' town hall after Dallas shooting filled with tears, hugs

Amazon is still deciding where to establish its second headquarters, and DFW looks to prove that North Texas is the ideal location. Here's what the Dallas-Fort Worth area has to offer the tech company. Dallas Regional Chamber

Amazon is still deciding where to establish its second headquarters, and DFW looks to prove that North Texas is the ideal location. Here's what the Dallas-Fort Worth area has to offer the tech company. Dallas Regional Chamber

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Robert Sturns, Fort Worth economic development director, said city officials aren't sure whether Fort Worth is still a contender, though.

"We submitted a regional response [to Amazon] and Dallas and Fort Worth and other cities were included," Sturns said. "We hope to find out, are they talking about Dallas proper, or the Dallas-Fort Worth region? So there is more to come, but we are excited to know they are interested in the region."

Brandom Gengelbach, executive vice president of economic development for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, said it's his understanding that Fort Worth is still in the running for Amazon's second headquarters, as part of the North Texas regional bid. About two dozen potential locations were submitted to Amazon in the bid, including the planned Panther Island development near downtown.

The city that is named the home for Amazon's HQ2 will benefit to the tune of up to 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment.

Although Dallas was listed by Amazon as a finalist, the precise location of a potential corporate site within the North Texas region isn’t known yet.

On Thursday morning, the list of Amazon finalist cities was a subject of great interest at the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, which conducted its annual forecast meeting at Casa Manana.

One of the speakers was John Martin, a Virginia-based futurist and CEO of a market research company known as SIR. Martin strongly urged those in the Fort Worth real estate industry to push hard for better transit in Fort Worth, including more funding for rail, rapid bus service and streetcars. He said even though autonomous vehicles soon will be in wide use worldwide, cities will still evolve around transit corridors, and companies such as Amazon are looking for places where their workers can walk and cycle to work, and for pleasure.

"If you look at Amazon’s big announcement this morning, this is about transit," Martin said. "Dallas and Austin made the list, along with 18 other cities. They meet the (transit) criteria."

Martin said his research shows that for 66 percent of millennials, access to a comprehensive transit system is one of their top three priorities in choosing a place to live.

But Gengelbach isn't so sure that Fort Worth's lack of a more comprehensive transit system will hurt Fort Worth's chances as much as some others say it will.

"To me it's not so much what we have now as what we can be in the future," Gengelbach said.

DFW's bid is bolstered by Texas' lack of a state income tax and the North Texas region's low cost of living.

Fire engulfs vacant house on Fort Worth Avenue

Police respond to noise complaint, get dance routine instead

T.D. Jakes' town hall after Dallas shooting filled with tears, hugs

Cities in the DFW area have submitted over three dozen potential sites for Amazon's second headquarters. The company hasn't even selected a city or state, but if North Texas wins, here are a few of the high-profile places that could become home to the mega-corporation. Lena Blietzlblietz@star-telegram.com